


Ad Infinitum

by GroundZero_V



Category: Cyberpunk 2077 (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Ending, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fix-It, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Mutual Pining, Pre-Relationship, Relic Malfunction, Soft Johnny Silverhand, Streetkid V, Translation Available
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-21
Updated: 2020-12-21
Packaged: 2021-03-11 00:26:40
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,050
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28216176
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GroundZero_V/pseuds/GroundZero_V
Summary: (FIX-IT ENDING)Johnny slams his hand on the railing, “ The hell are you trying?! You're just going to give up? After everything? Just gonna roll over and kill yourself? Because what? You're too fucking scared?”“ Stop,” V gets out hoarsely, “ Just stop. ”Alt clears her throat, " There is one more option. One I did not mention since you told me you wished for the chip to be removed. It is very risky and the procedure might be fatal, however - "Johnny growls, left hand turning into a fist,  " Just say it already."OR: V and Johnny make it to Mikoshi. Seeing as they both refuse to let the other die, Alt offers a new solution.
Relationships: Johnny Silverhand/Male V
Comments: 23
Kudos: 251





	Ad Infinitum

**Author's Note:**

> Now translated to Russian by MoonLover7 - link here: https://ficbook.net/readfic/10433155

V's hand grips too tightly around his gun, lips bloody from all the biting he's done in the past five hours. His legs shake as they slowly carry him towards the port. He trips and the gun falls from his fingers, sharp sound echoing around the room as iron meets the ground. V forces himself to continue towards the access point. Only a few more steps damn it. Almost there, or at least he thinks. Everything is blurry and moving around, even the floor beneath his feet looks unsteady. The constant pain in his head doesn't leave, but then it never does, not for the last three weeks at least. 

“ Johnny?” V calls out, unable to see him with how much his vision is swimming. Turning his head and looking around sounds like the worst idea right now, so he continues to stare ahead as he drags his legs forward, one painfully slow step after another, “ Are you here?” 

“ Where the fuck would I be?” Johnny bites out from somewhere on his right, sharp as a knife. 

“ Can't really see you right now,” V admits, chuckling humorlessly, " but you said...that you want to talk?" 

“ Fuck, V, you can barelly stand, we're not doing this right now. Just connect to Mikoshi and let Alt do her magic. ” 

V wants to argue, but his brain feels like someone is frying it on the extra crispy setting. Fueled by pure stubbornness, he jacks his port in and then lets himself fall into ice-filled water.

Everything distorts into weird straight lines, then fades away. 

“ I failed to consider the human factor,” Alt says, eerily calm. Her loud metallic voice echoes around cyberspace, “ When I remove the chip, your body won't survive for more than six months.” 

And just like that, everything inside V's universe stills and then _breaks_. 

V stares at her in pure disbelief, mind still not fully grasping what the hell just happened. Was that it then? Was all this for nothing?

V presses his hands together so strongly they start to shake with the effort, nails digging into the soft skin. The absence of pain inside cyberspace is jarring and unwelcome. Pain was the one constant he could always could on, but now -

This felt like a huge cosmic joke. No. It can't be real. There's no way. Except. Except everything always goes wrong in Night City. Hell, a stray bullet can end you while eating ramen. Why was he thinking he can survive having someone in his head? He was already dead when Dex shot him. He just deluded himself into thinking he wasn't living on borrowed time, on a time that wasn't his. Was all of this really that surprising? This one last fuck you from the universe? What else did he expect? People like him..they don't get happy endings. They don't deserve them. 

Distantly, he can hear Johnny arguing with Alt, but it feels like his brain is too slow and muddled to understand the meaning of their words. V can't even tell if it's because of what just happened or if his insides are being fried by the chip as they wait. The thought leaves him strangely blank. 

Sudden wave of nausea hits him and V scrambles to get up, almost tripping over his own leg in the haste. He hurries to the railing because fuck, he knows this is imaginary, the world he's in now not truly real, just a jumple of codes, but he can already feel the bile rising in his throat, can feel it choking him - 

“ V, the fuck?!” Johnny materialises next to him, brows furrowed and hands hovering in the air just inches from V's skin. “ What's going on?!”

“ I feel like..” V gasps out “ Shit. I think I'm going to throw up.” 

“ Going to _what_? Alt! Fuck. You better fess up! What did you do to him?!”

“ I did nothing, Johnny. His body is dying. It won't survive long without the chip. He's now simply an intruder in his own body, a parasite. The chip has altered the body to suit its needs, _your_ needs. “ 

“What are you -”

V coughs, body convulsing. The hand he put against his mouth on reflex comes away stained with blood. V feels his shoulders relax with relief.

Just a little blood.

It's a sight that became too familiar the last few weeks and V became too used to wiping off blood between reloading his sniper rifle and running for cover. Johnny never commented on it before, so V doesn't understand the look he's giving him now. Johnny's eyes turn even sharper when he glances at his palm and V blinks a couple of times at him in confusion. It's not like it's any news.

Still, Johnny's lips are pulled into a straight line, arms bailed to fists at his sides as he stares at the blood like it personally offended him. Deliriously, V imagines Johnny arguing with his blood to stay in his body. The blood would have a red cape and a sword. Or maybe a katana, V always wanted to own one. 

Alt's hologram flickers dark red. The code assembling and disassembling before his eyes as she crossed her arms. 

_She's waiting_ , V realises, then shakes his head a little to get rid of the haze that fell over his mind. _Waiting for me to make the final choice._

It's nice of her, in a twisted kind of way. Making him choose his poison. 

He could take her deal. Let her separate them once and for all. Finally buy that blue motorbike he's been saving up for months. Ride through his neon city one last time. Live out those last few months to the fullest. Or…

_Or._

“ If I...if I leave, hand Johnny the keys..then what happens?"

" What the fuck V -"

Alt interrupts him, " He'll live on normally. As I said, the body is now almost fully wired to him, he'll be accepted into it with zero side effects." 

" Then..I think I want to give him the control - "

Johnny slams his hand on the railing, “ The hell are you trying?! You're just going to give up? After everything? Just gonna roll over and kill yourself? Because what? You're too fucking scared?” 

“ Stop,” V gets out hoarsely, “ Just stop. ”

His head is still swimming and fuck, he doesn't want to remember their last conversation like this. Then again, he probably won't have any memories in a few seconds anyways. 

Johnny grabs him by the shoulders, grip tight as he leans closer and stares into his eyes. V recognises the look on his face, has seen it too many times to count in his own mirror. A look of pure desperation. 

Johnny stares at him for a second, then shakes his head vehemently, " No, I won't let you do that. I refuse. No way. "

V gives him a wobbly smile, " It's simple math, Johnny. Decades beat a few months by a long shot. I won't -"

" No, you hear me?! _No_. We'll figure out something else."

" There's no time -"

" I won't fucking kill you, V!" 

" You won't - "

Alt clears her throat. Loudly. V's voice dies in the middle of the sentence. Even though they were now in a room essentially created by her from a code.. He completely forgot about her. From the way Johnny is staring at her now, chest still heaving, he did the same. 

" There is one more option. One I did not mention since you told me you wished for the chip to be removed. It is very risky and the procedure might be fatal however - "

Johnny growls, left hand turning into a fist, " Just say it already." 

" To put it simply. The chip has healing properties, as you might have already noticed."

" Stopped me from dying once or twice, yeah." V nods, squinting his eyes at her. Where the hell was she going with this. 

" The problem is now the chip sees you as an intruder and so does your body. I can bypass that. But it would mean that chip would have to stay in your body forever. " 

" So Johnny..he would stay with me?"

  
  


" That is correct. There will be a barrier between your soul and Johnny's to stop merging of your personalities, but you two will be forever linked. You will continue sharing your brain as it was until now. " 

_Okay,_ V thinks confusedly, _then where's the catch?_

Johnny's eyes fly to V, then back to Alt, " What are the chances?" 

" Chance of success is exactly 19.7890452 %."

Hell. That _was_ a low number. But fuck, it was better than nothing wasn't it? Of course, V thinks, maybe Johnny doesn't want that..to be chained to him for the rest of their lives..

V glances at Johnny who is now standing with his back to him, both hands gripping the railing with desperate intensity. 

" You must decide quickly," Alt reminds, not sounding bothered at all. 

V nods at her, then stops closer to Johnny. He hesitates before placing a hand on his shoulder. He almost withdraws when Johnny tenses underneath the touch but remembers this might be the last time he gets to do this. Gets to touch him. See him. Talk to him. 

" Johnny," V whispers, " If you don't agree..." 

" It's not that. Don't be an idiot," he finally turns his head to him, their eyes meeting, " I want to be inside your stupid head. " 

" Even if the numbers aren't in our favor?" 

Johnny's hand moves up, grabs V's from where it's resting on his shoulder. V fights the sudden heat that rises to his cheeks, can feel how his treacherous heart skips a beat. He doesn't retract his arm away and Johnny's eyes soften.

" When were they ever in our favor? We've beaten odds worse than this before."

V lets his lips pull into a small smile, his heart hammering in his chest louder than thunder. 

" You must decide now, " Alt says. 

V stares at their fingers, then looks up at Alt's hologram. The answer is surprisingly easy. 

" Try it." 

  
  
  


  
  
  
  


  
V isn't very proud of what happens when he wakes up. It takes him a second, to realise that it must have worked, to realise that he's gonna _live_.

He starts crying.

Not the easy to look at kind that actors do in the movies, but heavy gut-wrenching sobs. His whole body is shaking and he can't even breath but he also can't stop. The tears stream down his face and V curls to himself on the cold floor and just lets all the emotions he's been pushing away wash over him. It's the first time he cried since Jack's death. First time he let himself feel the true terror of what was happening to him all this time.

  
After some time, a hand lands on his shoulder. Gentle but also firm and hesitant, like the person is trying to be gentle but isn't fully used to it. 

V doesn't need to look to know whose hand it is. He feels a sting of shame course through his body, but the need for comfort is stronger. He grabs the hand and brings it to his chest, curls around it as he continues to sob. 

“ Just let it all out, V,” Johnny whispers, whispers not like it's their secret that should be hidden, but like he truly cares. V feels him sit from the crouched down position he was in and the next thing he knows, Johnny is pulling him into his lap. V is too vulnerable to pretend like that isn't where he wants to be the most right now. He lets Johnny pull him close, feels the metal but warm hand hesitantly wrap around his waist. He feels more than sees Johnny's other hand reaching for the back of his head as he brings him closer, the tears making his vision too blurry.V goes slack in Johnny's hold, lets his face be pulled into his warm neck as he continues to cry, relishes in the feeling of Johnny's fingers lightly carding through his hair. 

  
Under the infamous Arasaka Tower that is now erupting in flames, in the arms of a man that once tried to kill him, V finally feels safe. 

After way too many months, V finally _breathes_.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments are welcome and appreciated


End file.
